Written by Trudi Trueit, Explorer Academy is packed with fun illustrations and mysterious codes. Meet those creators here.
GARETH MOORE All the codes and puzzles you’ll find throughout the book are the
This 4-inch-long (10-centimeter-long) fish shares an amazing partnership with another sea creature: the anemone (pronounced: uh-NEM-uh-NEE). The partnership benefits both participants, and the close relationship led to the fish being named an anemonefish. Anemones have tentacles that sting, but the clownfish isn’t bothered by them. In fact, it lives among the tentacles. Living among the tentacles of the anemone, the clown anemonefish gains protection from predators—which don’t dare get near the stinging protector. The anemonefish also gets to eat leftovers from the anemone’s meals. The anemone benefits from having the fish around, too. The useful fish nibbles away parasites that bug the anemone. And sometimes the anemonefish brings food into the tentacles which the anemone can also eat. Generally several anemonefish make one host anemone their home.
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A caracal crouches in the tall grass, eyeing a bird perched on a nearby shrub. Suddenly the wild cat bursts from her hiding spot and bolts toward the fowl. As the bird takes off, so does the caracal. She leaps up six feet and swats her prey with her paw, causing it to fall to the ground. Then the cat scoops up the bird in her mouth. It’s dinnertime. SOLO CAT Caracals live on rocky hills or grasslands in the Middle East, Africa, and south Asia. The animal is one of more than 30 species of small wild cats. Most caracals grow about three feet long and can weigh over 40 pounds. The feline is usually most active after sunset. And this cat likes its me-time—adults spend much of their days alone, hunting for birds, rodents, rabbits, and gazelles. HUNTING AND HUGGING The body of a caracal is built for sneak attacks. Caracals are superfast, and with footpads cushioned by stiff fur they make practically no noise as they sprint toward targets. The animals’ strong hind legs allow them to jump six feet in the air—the height of a tall adult human. Tufts of hair on the tips of a caracal’s ears may enhance their hearing, making it easier for the cat to listen for prey. These hunters have a softer side too. Mom caracals (which usually have three babies in each litter) cuddle with their young. And the babies cuddle each other too. See, even ninjas need to snuggle sometimes. Text by April Capochino Myers
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Adélie penguins breed and raise their young on the continent of Antarctica. In September and October—springtime in that part of the world—thousands of Adélies gather on the rocky Antarctic shoreline. The huge gatherings are called colonies. Adélie penguins build nests by scooping out areas in the ground. The female usually lays two eggs in the nest. Adélie penguin eggs hatch in December. In the Antarctic winter, the Adélie penguins live at sea. Both parents care for the eggs. While one stays behind keeping the eggs warm and safe from predators, the other parent heads out to sea to eat. They feast mainly on krill, tiny shrimplike animals, but also eat fish and squid. Parents take turns caring for their youngsters after they hatch until the chicks are about three weeks old. At that point, both parents may leave to forage for food while the chicks gather in the safety of a large group of other young penguins. These groups of young Adélies are called crèches. By March, when Adélie chicks are about nine weeks old, their downy baby feathers have been replaced by waterproof adult feathers. They plunge into the sea, and start hunting for food on their own. Like other penguin species, Adélies are excellent swimmers. They’re powerful and graceful in the water, with torpedo-shaped bodies that pierce through the water. Their modified wings help propel them through water instead of air. These birds are swimmers, not fliers. Check out the book Penguins vs. Puffins for more about these amazing birds! Watch a YouTube playlist all about penguins.
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Octopuses are sea animals famous for their rounded bodies, bulging eyes, and eight long arms. They live in all the world’s oceans but are especially abundant in warm, tropical waters. Octopuses, like their cousin, the squid, are often considered “monsters of the deep,” though some species, or types, occupy relatively shallow waters. Most octopuses stay along the ocean’s floor, although some species are pelagic, which means they live near the water’s surface. Other octopus species live in deep, dark waters, rising from below at dawn and dusk to search for food. Crabs, shrimps, and lobsters rank among their favorite foods, though some can attack larger prey, like sharks. Octopuses typically drop down on their prey from above and, using powerful suctions that line their arms, pull the animal into their mouth. The octopus performs its famous backward swim by blasting water through a muscular tube on the body called a siphon. Octopuses also crawl along the ocean’s floor, tucking their arms into small openings to search for food. Seals, whales, and large fish prey on octopuses. If threatened, octopuses shoot an inky fluid that darkens the water, confusing the aggressor. The octopus can also change to gray, brown, pink, blue, or green to blend in with its surroundings. Octopuses may also change color as a way to communicate with other octopuses. Octopuses are solitary creatures that live alone in dens built from rocks, which the octopus moves into place using its powerful arms. Octopuses sometimes even fashion a rock “door” for their den that pulls closed when the octopus is safely inside.
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The red-tailed hawk is a top predator. The hawks use tall perches to spot their prey in the open spaces next to highways. Red-tailed hawks also hunt from the air. As they circle and soar, they can spot a mouse from 100 feet (30 meters) up in the air—about ten stories high. When a red-tailed hawk spots a rodent, rabbit, lizard, or other prey scurrying, it swoops down and grabs its meal in its talons—the big claws on its feet. Once the hawk grabs its prey, it usually flies back up to its perch to eat it. They were named for the variety that has a brick-red tail. Male and female red-tailed hawks basically look alike, though the females are larger. Red-tailed hawks often mate for life. The pair makes a stick nest in a tree, high above the ground. They will use the nest year after year, so it grows bigger and bigger. The female hawk lays one to five eggs—which are white with brown spots. The parents take turns sitting on the eggs, keeping them warm and safe. Baby red-tailed hawks are covered with white, downy feathers. The hawk parents feed their young until the young birds can leave the nest, usually when they’re about six weeks old.
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American alligators once faced extinction. The United States Fish and Wildlife Service placed them on the endangered species list in 1967. Fortunately, the legal protection worked. Just 20 years later, American alligators were taken off the list. Brought back from the brink of extinction, over a million of these reptiles survive today. Now the main threat to alligators is habitat destruction, caused by such human activities as draining and developing wetlands. American alligators live in the wild in the southeastern United States. You’re most likely to spot them in Florida and Louisiana, where they live in rivers, lakes, ponds, swamps, bayous, and marshes. These reptiles are kind of clumsy on land, but they’re built for life in the water. Great swimmers, they are equipped with webbed feet and strong tails that propel them through the water. An average male American alligator is 10 to 15 feet (three to five meters) long. Half of its length is its massive, strong tail. An alligator can weigh as much as half a ton (1,000 pounds), but an average male weighs between 500 and 600 pounds (227 to 272 kilograms). Females are usually smaller than males. As big and ferocious as the female alligator may look, she is a gentle mother. A mother alligator makes a nest on shore, where she lays her eggs. Then she guards her eggs until they’re ready to hatch. At that point the babies start to make noises, and their mother hears her little ones‘ peeps as they break out of the eggs. She gently carries them—in her mouth—to the water nearby. Newly hatched young are only about six to eight inches (15 to 20 centimeters) long, and very vulnerable. Their mother protects them from predators, which include raccoons, bobcats, birds, and even other alligators. The young alligators stay with their mother for up to two years. After that, they’re able to fend for themselves.
able to fend for themselves. 1:55 Cool Facts About Alligators and Crocodiles Find
Polar bears live along shores and on sea ice in the icy cold Arctic. When sea ice forms over the ocean in cold weather, many polar bears, except pregnant females, head out onto the ice to hunt seals. Polar bears primarily eat seals. Polar bears often rest silently at a seal’s breathing hole in the ice, waiting for a seal in the water to surface. A polar bear may also hunt by swimming beneath the ice. But climate change is making it harder for polar bears to hunt. Ice melts earlier and re-forms later than it has in the past. Without the sea ice, the polar bear must scavenge for other, less nutritious food. Polar bears roam the Arctic ice sheets and swim in that region’s coastal waters. They are very strong swimmers, and their large front paws, which they use to paddle, are slightly webbed. Some polar bears have been seen swimming hundreds of miles from land—though they probably cover most of that distance by floating on sheets of ice. In fall pregnant polar bears make dens in earth and snowbanks, where they’ll stay through the winter and give birth to one to three cubs. In spring the mother emerges from her den followed by her cubs. During that time she will protect them and teach them how to hunt. The U.S., Canada, Denmark, Norway, and Russia signed an agreement in 1973 to protect polar bears.
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When you see a snowy owl, it’s clear how the bird probably got its name: they’re snow-white. Males are generally whiter than females. As males grow older, they get whiter. The females never become completely white—remaining brownish with darker markings. These large owls mainly live in the Arctic in open, treeless areas called tundra. Snowy owls perch on the ground or on short posts. From there they patiently watch for prey. Their favorite target is lemmings—small mouselike rodents—but they also hunt for other small rodents, rabbits, birds, and fish. Snowy owls have excellent eyesight, but they obviously can’t see their prey when it’s underneath snow or a thick layer of plants. To capture those meals, the owl relies on its other keen sense: hearing. In flight, snowy owls generally cruise low to the ground. Once they spot their prey, they approach it from the air, and snatch it up using the large, sharp talons, or claws, on their feet. Most owls sleep during the day and hunt at night, but the snowy owl is active during the day, especially in the summertime. They tend to be most active at dawn and dusk. Snowy owl pairs usually mate for life. Female snowy owls lay from 3 to 11 eggs at a time, in a nest built on the ground. When there is plenty of food available, snowy owls tend to lay more eggs than when food is scarce. Lemmings make up the main part of the snowy owls‘ diet, and lemming population numbers rise and fall naturally. Sometimes, if there is not enough prey around to feed baby owls, the adult pair won’t lay any eggs at all until the supply of food improves. The female snowy owl sits on her eggs until they hatch. The male feeds her while she keeps their eggs warm and safe. After about one month, the eggs hatch. Babies are covered in soft white down when they hatch. As new feathers replace the down, the birds become light brown. The young leave the nest less than a month after they hatch. By the time they’re about a month and a half old, the young owls can fly well, but their parents take care of them for another ten weeks or more.
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When an elephant drinks, it sucks as much as 2 gallons (7.5 liters) of water into its trunk at a time. Then it curls its trunk under, sticks the tip of its trunk into its mouth, and blows. Out comes the water, right down the elephant’s throat. Since African elephants live where the sun is usually blazing hot, they use their trunks to help them keep cool. First they squirt a trunkful of cool water over their bodies. Then they often follow that with a sprinkling of dust to create a protective layer of dirt on their skin. Elephants pick up and spray dust the same way they do water—with their trunks. Elephants also use their trunks as snorkels when they wade in deep water. An elephant’s trunk is controlled by many muscles. Two fingerlike parts on the tip of the trunk allow the elephant to perform delicate maneuvers such as picking a berry from the ground or plucking a single leaf off a tree. Elephants can also use its trunk to grasp an entire tree branch and pull it down to its mouth and to yank up clumps of grasses and shove the greenery into their mouths. When an elephant gets a whiff of something interesting, it sniffs the air with its trunk raised up like a submarine periscope. If threatened, an elephant will also use its trunk to make loud trumpeting noises as a warning. Elephants are social creatures. They sometimes hug by wrapping their trunks together in displays of greeting and affection. Elephants also use their trunks to help lift or nudge an elephant calf over an obstacle, to rescue a fellow elephant stuck in mud, or to gently raise a newborn elephant to its feet. And just as a human baby sucks its thumb, an elephant calf often sucks its trunk for comfort. One elephant can eat 300 pounds (136 kilograms) of food in one day. People hunt elephants mainly for their ivory tusks. Adult females and young travel in herds, while adult males generally travel alone or in groups of their own.
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